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I was wondering which food plants are typically attacked by mites.

I always have more mite problems in the Winter Indoor Garden (WIG) than outdoors during the growing season.

One year, I had a carry over from the WIG and had serious mite infestation in one of the tomato beds. That was Russet Mites.

I’ve also had Two-spotted mites in the WIG on tomatoes.

My citruses and peppers are also attacked by mites — maybe Broad or Cyclamen mites? And eggplants get them during the winter as well.

This year I was surprised to see snap peas in the WIG severely affected from what looks like Two-spotted mite attack, and adjacent jasmine has defoliated — maybe the same mites… but citruses done seem to be badly affected.

My question was prompted by wondering what I could plant in a container that another group of snap peas have dried up and died in — it could be senescence because I missed TWO pods and let them get too mature, but if this had been mites, what could I plant in here without worrying about mites?


…I was surprised to find out mealybugs attack brassicas — I had a severe infestation last winter. They got into cabbage and napa and fled to sweet potato vines when I tried to get rid of them, then came back and finished off the brassicas as well as carrots.

applestar wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 20, 2024 8:54 am

... what I could plant in a container ... without worrying about mites?

Is that the question, AppleStar?

Beans are the most likely victims of mites in my garden. Everything likes to chew on eggplants and peppers also seem high on the list. Pole beans are the most serious problem because green beans can usually be harvested off of the bush beans before the plants are in serious trouble and then, they can be pulled.

Cucumbers and melons are also mite magnets.

Eggplants and peppers and the cucurbits can take soap or neem spray fairly well. Those sprays do an okay job of knocking down the mites. I do have to make sure sprayed plants can be washed off before direct sunlight damages them.

If your question is "what can I grow," I have no good answer. Maybe a quickly harvested leafy green ...

Steve

Mites and thrips pretty much attack anything with new growth
citrus, tomatoes, peppers, onions( thrips),cucumber, peas, cabbage family, beet family, eggplant, parsley, strawberries, beans, squash.

I have more issues with broad mites than spider mites especially on peppers and citrus. Broad mites attack the new growth deforming them. Spider mites become more of a problem in hot dry weather. For mites I prefer to use sulfur mainly because it is the easiest thing for me to get and it has wide usage. but short duration. It is also not selective and kills indiscriminately both good and bad bugs. I would use water first because anything that kills the mites kills their main predators which are predatory mites and thrips. Sulfur does have limited use in high temperature over 88 degrees. Then I need to either use water to knock them off or start culling the worst plants. Jun-September are the hottest months so most of the time I am not adding much to the garden, but I am taking a lot of things out.

There was an article that said spinosad worked systemically when sprayed on tomato roots in rock wool hydroponics. Spinosad is listed for control of spider mites but it would also kill the predatory mites.

Wow! Thanks for the insights. I do have to pay a little more attention I guess.

This winter, I opted out of getting predatory mites for the Winter Indoor Garden, and I HAVE been spraying. It’s an endless, insidious job, even if the citruses and peppers are surviving the mites and new growths buds are starting to leaf out. (I’m using a diluted water solution of liquid soap, neem oil in canola oil carrier, and potassium bicarbonate, with occasional alternating addition of epsom salts or garden sulfur)

I’ll have to see about what to plant in the container after those peas died. It’s a little winter diversion anyway — it’s almost time to start the tomatoes…..

During the main growing season, and in fact as soon as it gets warm enough in spring, my usual solution for the mite infestation on the overwintered plants is to migrate them out. Then the Garden Patrol takes over and those plants all recover….

Only time this didn’t work was from the Russet Mite infestation when they overtook the one 4’x4’ raised bed (VGA actually) — but it was an isolated incident.

Horticultural oils are supposed to work, but I have problems using them. Most of them have very strong odors which give me a head ache and I would have to dip the plants to get good coverage. I would rather dip them in orchard spray (sulfur + pyrethrins). For broad mites, they attack new growth and the growth is badly deformed as well, so I usually cut out the damaged parts, bag and trash and then spray the plants or dip them if they are small enough to fit the bucket in orchard spray. I also will just use water under the leaves to knock them off.

Spider mites come out in hot dry weather. I use water on them as well, but they usually attack older plants that are already producing, so if water doesn't work with them and there is a lot of damage to the fruit, then sometimes I just cull the plants because they will attract more pests.

Mites are so small that they will get through the insect barriers.